peter john rios

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#80 part 1:

Avengers West Coast (1992)

Birds of Prey (2005)

Comics Journal (1983)

DC Comics Presents (1985)

Firestorm (1988)

Flash (1993)

Green Lantern (1996)

JSA (2006)

To be continued in part 2…

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

The great #100th edition!

Two things to note before we kick off the festivities: First, I use www.comicbookdb.com as a reference guide to the madness that is my 365 Tumblr series. It’s user generated content, which means if there’s a particular 100th issue that hasn’t been posted there yet, then it will be (unfortunately) absent from this post (and all posts before and after this one actually). While I’ve been enjoying this countdown (and trying furiously to catch up), I like the one-stop-shopping aspect of going just to ComicBookDB without having to go to multiple sources. Second, I’m sure are many, many 100th issues I haven’t read or owned that have significant noteworthy events. For the sake of space and time, I’ll no longer be adding the “never read/never owned” sections. To be blunt, if I want to catch up, I gotta cut that sh*t out. Haha.

With all that said, Here we go with part one!

Avengers West Coast: Special embossed red foil cover! All to celebrate the death of Mockingbird! I found this in a back issue bin years after it was released and since it’s an anniversary issue, and has a shiny Ooooo look at me cover, I picked it up. But it’s still West Coast Avengers to me! (1993)

Birds of Prey: This issue marks the first time the art of Nicola Scott graces the title. I like this issue especially for the opening sequence where Oracle offers up invitations to the group to various female DC characters as potential replacements for Black Canary. It’s all the first appearance of a new Spy Smasher, granddaughter of the original Golden Age espionage character. (2007)

Excalibur (1996)

Firestorm: The 100 issue (plus Annuals) run of Firestorm joins this series. It’s one of those 80s runs that I really enjoyed although the final fourth of the run is a bit wonky, especially at this point where Firestorm is more of an elemental than anything else. Thankfully that eventually went away. By the end of this run, John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake were part of the creative team, paving the way for their eventual collaboration on the Spectre and Martian Manhunter. (1990)

Flash: I no longer have the Terminal Velocity storyarc that includes issue 100, but somewhere in all of this is the first appearance/mention of the Speed Force! And in this issue, the cliffhanger is Wally West learning how the Speed Force can change a speedster. (1995)

Green Arrow: Several titles turned 100 at the same time in DC’s line around the same time. To celebrate, they gave them similar cover treatments. This issue marks the penultimate chapter in the eventual death of Green Arrow story. (1995)

Green Lantern: Including the first appearance of the new, younger Air Wave, son of the Golden Age version. To add to the oddity of the character, the new Air Wave is part of the Hal Jordan family tree, even though the original is from Earth-2 and Hal is from Earth-1. Go look it up. It’s too convoluted to explain here. (1978)

Green Lantern: The current GL, Kyle Rayner, winds up in the past and meets a younger Hal Jordon. After a battle with Sinestro, the Guardians send Kyle back to his proper future. Only, Sinestro manages to send Hal there as well kicking off a short run where a younger Hal shows up in a time where his older self has long since died as his evil Parallax counterpart. (1998)

To be continued in part 2…

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#108

Birds of Prey: Gail Simone’s four year run on this title comes to an end. Her writing, along with Ed Benes on the earliest issues, gave the series new life and new energy. I thoroughly enjoyed what she brought to the characters and, for the content and the leads, often cite this run as one of the more important titles DC was putting out at the time. (2007)

Flash: Mark Waid and Oscar Jimenez ramp up the action in one of my favorite Waid-penned Flash stories. Savitar. Lady Flash. The Flash Family. Great great arc. (1995)

JLA (2005)

Marvel Comics Presents: Final issue I purchased off the shelf after a long run that most likely started with Barry Windsor-Smith’s Weapon X. (1992)

New Titans (1994)

Nightwing (2005)

Power Man and Iron Fist (1984)

Wonder Woman (1996)

X-Force (2000)

X-Men: Features the death of Moira MacTaggert and Senator Robert Kelly. (2001)

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And from the never read/never owned file:

Blackhawk: With this issue, DC brings the title over from Quality. (1957)

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Uncanny X-Men: John Byrne joins the title and, with Chris Claremont, will go on to inspire super-hero team books for the next twenty years. (1977)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#110

Birds of Prey (2007)

Flash: Jesse Quick! One of my fav JSA (or All-Star Squadron) legacy characters. I liked her in this title, really liked her in the first Titans series and then she would move on to the Justice Society of America as the new Liberty Belle. Great character. (1996)

JLA (2005)

New Titans (1994)

Nightwing (2005)

Power Man and Iron Fist (1984)

Wonder Woman (1996)

X-Men: With the recent death of Colossus, Kitty Pryde leaves the X-Men. (2001)

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And from the never read/never owned file:

Flash: Although you can’t tell by the cover, this is the first appearance of Wally ‘Kid Flash’ West! It’s also the first appearance of Flash Rogue Weather Wizard. (1959)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#111

Birds of Prey (2007)

Flash: The finale of a great Flash family story. If you haven’t read this six part crossover story (with Impulse) you must. If you only know of Savitar from Flash Rebirth, you’re missing out. (1996)

JLA (2005)

Man of Steel: Such a cool Paul Rivoche cover. (2001)

New Titans (1994)

Nightwing (2005)

Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man: Secret Wars II cross-over! Beyonder vs Puma. Because that makes sense! (1986)

Silver Surfer: First of two issues of this title purchased only because George Perez was the writer. Interesting Marvel logo there. (1995)

Wonder Woman (1996)

X-Men: Apparently this is one of the last X crossover stories for a number of years. (2001)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#114

Flash: Wally meets the Tornado Twins! (1996)

JLA (2005)

Man of Steel (2001)

New Titans: This issue leads into the Zero Hour issue which changes up the team. Nightwing, Starfire, Red Star, etc are all gone. Enter Minion, Mirage, Damage, Impulse, and, eventually, Kyle Rayner, Supergirl and others. (1994)

New X-Men: Grant Morrison. Frank Quitely. New X-Men. Oh yea. (2001)

Nightwing (2006)

Warlord: Skartaris meets Apokolips. (1987)

Wonder Woman (1996)

X-Factor (1995)

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And from the never read/never owned file:

Journey Into Mystery: First appearance of the Absorbing Man! (1965)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#130

Defenders: Another good Frank Cirocco cover featuring Valkyrie. (1984)

Flash: Mark Waid and company take a year off allowing Grant Morrison with Mark Millar to play in the Flash sandbox. First order of business? Break Wally’s legs! (1997)

Green Arrow (1998)

Hellblazer (1998)

New Titans: Totally forgot this was coming up! The Perez cover is an homage to his cover on New Teen Titans vol.1 #1. For the issue itself, I think I read it only once and I have a very limited knowledge of what actually happened inside. Cyborg was all wonked out, I think Changeling could only change into imaginary beasts, Starfire and Raven were merged, Donna Troy was a Darkstar. Yeesh. Definitely ended with a whimper, an unfortunate example of editorial and the creative team not exactly mixing. (1996)

New X-Men (2002)

Nightwing (2007)

Wonder Woman (1998)

X-Factor (1997)

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From the read but never owned file:

Uncanny X-Men: First appearance of… Dazzler! (1980)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#135

Defenders (1984)

Flash (1998)

Green Arrow (1998)

Marvel Team-Up: This might be the first Kitty Pryde comic I ever read. (1983)

New X-Men (2003)

Nightwing (2007)

Wonder Woman: Wow. Wonder Girl’s red jumpsuit never looked so dumpy. Geez, Byrne. (1998)

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From the never read/never owned file:

Flash: Wally West receives his most known Kid Flash costume, a uniform that has been labeled the coolest costume in the DCU. (1963)

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#139

Flash: Black Flash, a Grant Morrison/Mark Millar creation, and a fairly simple one that probably should’ve been thought of much earlier. He’s the Grim Reaper of the Speed Force, serving the same role as Black Racer for the New Gods. It seemed a bit strange at the time, but the concept has continued even through Flash Rebirth and Blackest Night. (1998)

Marvel Team-Up: Dreadnoughts! Like Rom, like Sentinels, I love me some soulless Dreadnoughts. (1984)

New X-Men (2003)

Nightwing (2008)

Wonder Woman: The first issue of the Eric Luke/Yanick Paquette run. This is also the first cover by Adam Hughes who would go on to do almost 50 covers over the next five years. The Luke run is nothing too earth-shattering but he did create an interesting character in Devastation - a younger character granted powers by darker gods much the same way Diana was given powers by her own gods. Historically, the run is seen mostly as the “interim” between the Byrne and Jimenez runs. (1998) 

Covers of comics that are (or have been) in my collection at one point or another.

#142

Flash: Wally and Linda marry. Or do they? (1998)

Green Lantern (1981)

Marvel Team-Up (1984)

New X-Men (2003)

Swamp Thing (1994)